


On a Wire

by InnerGlow11



Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Angst, Everyone Needs A Hug, Gen, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), Poisoning, Twilight (Linked Universe) Needs a Hug, Twilight (Linked Universe)-centric, Vomiting, also for the weekly prompt on the LU discord, for the Poisoning prompt more specifically, other various things from the poison
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 03:53:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29412213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InnerGlow11/pseuds/InnerGlow11
Summary: They’d been unfortunate enough to stumble out of their most recent portal into the middle of a Yiga base and with a fair few of them being greatly disoriented from the travel (himself included) they were pretty easily caught. Talk about bad luck.If only he knew just how much worse their luck could get.
Relationships: Four & Hyrule & Legend & Sky & Time & Twilight & Warriors & Wild & Wind (Linked Universe), Hyrule & Twilight (Linked Universe), Time & Twilight (Linked Universe), Twilight & Wild (Linked Universe)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 36
Collections: Linked Universe Write-offs!





	1. Clock

**Author's Note:**

> this first chapter is my first draft, the one I submitted for the poison prompt. the next chapter is the edited version.
> 
> (btw, for anyone that saw this originally in the write-offs, yes I did change the title cause I found one I liked better. You'll probably notice that I reused the old title though.)

The cell door slammed shut behind them, just in time for Wind to rush over and bang on the bars, yelling obscenities at the Yiga. Twilight leaves him to it. Warriors is in the cell beside them, looking like he wants to reach over and calm the boy. They’d been thrown into two separate cells, since there were too many to fit into one, and Twilight had ended up with Wind, Wild, and Sky while the rest went in the other one.

The rancher feels like he got the better end of the deal. They look far more crowded.

They’d been unfortunate enough to stumble out of their most recent portal into the middle of a Yiga base and with a fair few of them being greatly disoriented from the travel (himself included) they were pretty easily caught. Talk about bad luck.

It didn’t take long for someone else to come by though, stopping in front of their less crowded cell and opening it. They didn’t have to wonder what the three wanted for long. The one in front almost immediately reached for Wild and Twilight was having _none_ of that. He stepped in the way and the Yiga growled, “Move.”

There was no way he was letting them lay a hand on the Cub.

“Take me instead,” he says boldly. They pause, looking at each other while Wild scrabbles at his back and whispers no to him. But the Yiga nods and replies, “Very well.”

Then the man is grabbing him, yanking him out of the cell and pulling him into the grasp of the others, shutting the door in his protege’s face. They quickly secure him, weapons drawn and keeping his hands behind his back. Then he’s being led away, Wild yelling for them to stop and come back all the way to a room. It actually isn’t that far from the cells, surprisingly, but he sees why soon enough, his heart sinking. There’s a chair in the middle of the room, rope on it, with a box nearby. That… can’t be good. But at least it’s him and not Wild.

He takes a deep breath as they lead him in. They secure him to the chair without much trouble, though he’d gotten a hand free long enough to hit one in the throat, which had been immensely satisfying. But there’s not much else he’s able to do and now he’s at their mercy, nervously eyeing the box.

“So,” the lead one starts, “We’re going to ask some questions. You’re going to answer. Or we kill your friends.”

Twilight eyed the Yiga. While he didn’t doubt their capacity to kill, he did doubt that they’d actually do it. Otherwise they wouldn’t have kept them all alive to put in cells. The thing that puzzled him though was the fact that they were just asking questions. Why? Just what was it they needed that made them want all these heroes to stay alive? He doesn’t give any answer and the Yiga continues on without it.

“...Where are you all coming from?”

Well, Twilight hadn’t expected that. But, he supposes, that is actually a good question. They only had one hero to deal with before, which was honestly too much for them then (He smirks at the thought.) but now suddenly eight more heroes have shown up and started making things even harder for them. He can imagine their frustration all too easily.

His smirk grows as he replies, “Oh, we come from everywhere. The forests, the farms, the sky. Doesn’t really matter where we’re from, really, because we’ll always defeat Ganon and any other evils that threaten us and our homes.”

Obviously, this is not what the Yiga wanted, (but he answered him honestly!) and he gets a punch in the face for it.

“Why can you all use the cursed blade?” the Yiga asks, and Twilight swears he can hear teeth grinding. He grins and replies, “Because we’re all heroes.”

He gets another punch. Apparently they didn’t believe him. (There is only supposed to be one hero, so he doesn’t blame them. Would’ve thought the same thing before all this.)

“Well,” the Yiga says menacingly, and the two guarding the door snicker, “seems like you don’t like to be very forthcoming. Well get those lips loosened though, don’t you worry.”

Twilight watches him get up and go to the box, caution keeping him alert. The man pulls out a bottle full of liquid. He turns back and sees the expression of apprehension on the hero’s face, causing him to chuckle.

“See this, _hero_? It’s a little something we like to call truth serum. It’ll get you answering all our questions, and it’ll all be truthful! Sounds fun, doesn’t it?”

Honestly, Twilight had been expecting worse. Like, pretty much anything but that. Not like he had much to spill that they could use against any of them anyways. They didn’t give him time to react though, all three coming over and forcing his mouth open, pouring the liquid in and almost making him choke. They keep his mouth closed and nose plugged though, she he has no choice but to swallow it or choke. Better alive than dead. He swallows and they let him go.

Then he hears a siren call.

“WAIT!” someone yells and a Yiga comes running in, panting.

“That wasn’t truth serum!”


	2. Tick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my gosh. this was supposed to be a quick edit with a little bit added on. it turned out SO much longer.

The cell door slammed shut behind them, just in time for Wind to rush over and bang on the bars, yelling obscenities at the Yiga. Twilight leaves him to it. Warriors is in the cell beside them, looking like he wants to reach over and calm the boy. They’d been thrown into two separate cells, since there were too many to fit into one, and Twilight had ended up with Wind, Wild, and Sky while the rest went in the other one.

The rancher feels like he got the better option. They look far more crowded.

They’d been unfortunate enough to stumble out of their most recent portal into the middle of a Yiga base and with a fair few of them being greatly disoriented from the travel (himself included) they were pretty easily caught. Talk about bad luck.

It didn’t take long for someone else to come by though, stopping in front of their less crowded cell and opening it. They didn’t have to wonder what the three wanted for long. The one in front almost immediately reached for Wild and Twilight was having _none_ of that. He stepped in the way and the Yiga growled, “Move.”

There was no way he was letting them lay a hand on the Cub.

“Take me instead,” he says boldly. They pause, looking at each other while Wild scrabbles at his back and whispers no to him. But the Yiga nods and replies, “Very well.”

Then the man is grabbing him, yanking him out of the cell and pulling him into the grasp of the others, shutting the door in his protege’s face. They quickly secure him, their weapons drawn and they keep his hands behind his back. Then he’s being led away, Wild yelling for them to stop and come back. He can hear his protege all the way to their destination. It actually isn’t that far from the cells, surprisingly, but he sees why soon enough, his heart sinking. There’s a chair in the middle of a room, rope on it, with a box nearby. That… can’t be good. But at least it’s him and not Wild.

He takes a deep breath as they lead him in. They secure him to the chair without much trouble, though he’d gotten a hand free long enough to hit one in the throat, which had been immensely satisfying. But there’s not much else he’s able to do and soon enough he’s at their mercy, nervously eyeing the box.

“So,” the lead one starts, “We’re going to ask some questions. You’re going to answer. Or we kill your friends.”

Twilight eyed the Yiga. While he didn’t doubt their capacity to kill, he did doubt that they’d actually do it. Otherwise they wouldn’t have kept them all alive to put in cells. The thing that puzzled him though was the fact that they were just asking questions. Why? Just what was it they needed that made them want all these heroes to stay alive? He doesn’t give any answer and the Yiga continues on without it.

“...Where are you all coming from?”

Well, Twilight hadn’t expected that. But, he supposes, that is actually a good question. They only had one hero to deal with before, which was honestly too much for them then (He smirks at the thought.) but now suddenly eight more heroes have shown up and started making things even harder for them. He can imagine their frustration all too easily.

His smirk grows as he replies, “Oh, we come from everywhere. The forests, the farms, the sky. Doesn’t really matter where we’re from, because we’ll always defeat Ganon and any other evils that threaten us and our homes.”

Obviously, this is not what the Yiga wanted, (but he answered him honestly!) and he gets a punch in the face for it.

“Why can you all use the cursed blade?” the Yiga asks, and Twilight swears he can hear teeth grinding. He grins and replies, “Because we’re all heroes.”

He gets another punch. Apparently they didn’t believe him. (There is only supposed to be one hero, so he doesn’t blame them. Would’ve thought the same thing before all this.)

“Well,” the Yiga says menacingly, and the two guarding the door snicker, “seems like you don’t like to be very forthcoming. We’ll get those lips loosened though, don’t you worry.”

Twilight watches him get up and go to the box, caution keeping him alert. The man pulls out a bottle full of liquid, the other two giggling gleefully. The first turns back and sees the expression of apprehension on the hero’s face, causing him to chuckle darkly.

“See this, _hero_? It’s a little something we like to call truth serum. It’ll get you answering all our questions, and it’ll all be, well, truthful! Sounds fun, doesn’t it?”

...Honestly, Twilight had been expecting worse. Like, pretty much anything but that. Not like he had much to spill that they could use against any of them anyways. They didn’t give him time to react though, all three coming over and forcing his mouth open, pouring the liquid in and making him gag. They keep his mouth closed and nose plugged though, so he has no choice but to swallow it or choke. Better alive than dead. He swallows and they let him go.

Then the devil comes a callin’.

“WAIT!” someone yells, rapid footsteps approaching. A Yiga comes running in, frantic and wheezing, but manages to spit out, “You guys don’t have truth serum!”

Everyone freezes and Twilight feels like the whole world just tipped sideways.

...What? Then what did he just take?

The three interrogating him glance at each other, then look at him. He can’t help but gulp. They turn away and go over to the newcomer and pulling him outside the room with them. He can hear muted whispers from their direction, but he can’t make anything out and ignores them to take stock.

He focuses inward, trying to see if anything feels off. He feels a bit nauseous, but he can’t tell if that’s just from nerves or if that’s from what he drank. ...Maybe it was harmless. (Please let it be harmless.)

He sits there, stomach twisting itself in knots (please don’t let it be because of the thing he drank) while he waits. And waits. He can hear their voices rising occasionally, but he can’t really catch words. They sound concerned though. The butterflies in his stomach flutter harder. If _Yiga_ are sounding concerned… Well, it’s probably just cause they don’t want to lose any potential information. Right?

They talk for a surprisingly long time. Though he’s sure his measurement of time is skewed right now, but it feels like an eternity before he hears someone walking off. At this point, he’s actually starting to feel sick now, his stomach gurgling unhappily, and it’s really making him worry.

The three walk back in, the two taking their positions by the door again and the leader walking over to him.

“Alright,” he starts, “Here’s the deal. We may have mixed up the truth serum and demonflower extract.”

Twilight’s heart drops. Demonflower?

“But,” the Yiga continues, “we do have the antidote.”

 _Antidote?_ So was he poisoned by it then?

“ _But_ ,” the man says, giving what is probably supposed to be a pointed looked, yet it’s ruined by the fact his eyes are covered by a mask, “we’ll only give it to you if you answer all our questions truthfully and to the best of your ability. So, we have a deal?”

Twilight licks his lips nervously. He did have a few questions…

“So I’m poisoned?”

The man sighs, be answers him anyways, “Yes. And its effects will probably kick in soon, so I’d start yapping if I were you.”

“H-how,” Twilight takes a deep steadying breath, trying to still the shaking of his arms before he continues, “How bad--?”

“Ah,” the Yiga says knowingly, bringing his hand to his chin, “facing your own mortality. You know, normally I’d be thrilled to tell you, but with this being a screw up, well, it’s not quite as exciting.”

The two behind him actually hang their heads. They actually feel bad that they screwed up? Well, he’s almost one hundred percent sure it’s not because they’re worried for him.

The lead Yiga sighs again, then finally says, “Well, it’s not our worst poison. But it’s definitely one of our worse ones. Let me tell you, it’s not gonna be pretty.”

The man glances at the empty bottle, then almost nonchalantly finishes, “The dose we gave you? It could maybe kill a moblin.”

Twilight sucks in a breath, trying to steady himself. Ok. Ok, so he’s poisoned. And he’ll probably die. In a probably painful way. Unless he gets the antidote. Which they have. But will only give him if he helps them. As scared as he is, is it worth it? To potentially put his friends in danger? But… he doesn’t want to die. ...Maybe if he’s careful how he answers.

He nods curtly and shakily answers, “Ok. Deal.”

He can feel the smile behind the mask as the man exclaims, “There we go! Not so hard, eh?”

The Yiga claps his hands together, rubbing them gleefully then asks, “Ok, let’s try this again. Where are you all coming from?”

Twilight sees no reason to lie. Not like the Yiga can do anything about it anyways.

“Everywhere,” he answers, and the Yiga stares at him, then clenches his fist.

“I’m serious,” he says, and the man’s head tilts quizzically while he continues, “We all grew up in different places, but also at different times. We each have our own Hyrule.”

The man taps his chin for a bit, then straightens up and nods to himself. Twilight grimaces as his stomach tightens, causing him discomfort. The Yiga seems to notice and jumps into the next question, “What was that you used to get into our base?”

Again, one the Yiga can’t do anything about, so he simply says, “A portal.”

His stomach tightens further, almost painfully, and he grunts. The Yiga waits patiently for it to subside so Twilight can continue, “It takes us to different times and places. We never know where.”

The Yiga nods again, as if mentally jotting that down, then almost hesitantly asks, “How-”

Twilight gasps, interrupting the Yiga, as his stomach suddenly spikes in pain. He leans over, taking shuddering breaths as he tries to work through it, but the pain is a constant now. This stuff worked fast.

The man quickly continues, “How has Ganon fared in his battles?”

Twilight forces out a few chuckles and replies, “We’ve always beaten him.”

The Yiga looks almost crestfallen, but a next spike of pain has Twilight gasping again. He’s really starting to feel nauseous now.

“But what about us? How did we do?”

Twilight barely catches the question and takes a moment to collect himself, then shakily answers, “Y-you guys g-got the closest.”

The Yiga makes some sort of happy noise but Twilight is too busy paying attention to a weight starting to press down on his chest to really notice. It’s becoming harder to breathe. Is there less oxygen in here? Oooh, his stomach hurts and he feels like he might puke. Are they done yet? Can they give him the antidote now?

“--nd wha--esses d--oes--ve?”

What? Are they trying to ask another question? He tries looking up at the Yiga but everything is blurry. Ooh, he feels sick. And his stomach _hurts_. Why can’t he get more air?

A sharp slap on the cheek helps bring him back to reality. The Yiga is holding his face and yelling, “Hey, don’t go out on me yet! I still got questions!”

Right. Focus. Ignore it all. Answer and he’ll be helped. Cured.

“What weaknesses do heroes have?”

That was the question? Kinda a silly one… Ooh his stomach.

Another slap on the cheek helps bring him back and he blearily answers, “Always alone.”

“Alone? What do you mean?”

“No--,” he slurs, then stops to take in a shuddering breath before he tries to continue, “no one understands. They all leave. Or-or die.”

“Hm,” the Yiga hums, then drops Twilight’s head. And that’s it. The blurry movement tips his stomach over the edge and suddenly bile is climbing up his throat and out his mouth.

The Yiga shrieks in disgust, yelling something about his boots. The pain in Twilight’s stomach suddenly becomes overwhelming and he’s left writhing in agony, gasping and whimpering. He can’t get that nice deep breath. His stomach _hurts_. His mouth tastes disgusting. He feels like he might throw up again. And now his arm is starting to itch.

He feels someone hit his face again, hears voices, but he can’t get himself to focus on it. He’s so tired. Can he rest now? Someone shakes him and he looks at their blurry form, but then he’s puking again and they’re pulling away, yelling in disgust. He breaths as deeply as he can, whimpering and curling in on himself as his stomach pain flares up again. That itch is starting to bother him.

He tries to scratch it, but something is keeping his hands pinned and he can’t see well enough to get out of it. He takes in a shuddering breath, then hacks up more bile. His stomach flares and he curls into himself again, panting.

His arm really itches. He goes for it again, but is once again stopped. He yelps as his stomach pain lances through him. Hunching over, his stomach rolls as more bile comes up. ( _Please_ , make it _stop_.)

The sound of voices and struggling make their way through the fog. He weakly lifts his head, looking over at the noise. Through his blurry vision, he can make out three red people. A smaller green person between them. He thinks the green one is staring at him. Then one of the red ones (a Yiga?) starts talking. His head is too fuzzy to make anything of it.

Another spike of pain has him yelping and curling into himself, panting. Why won’t this weight get off his chest? He can vaguely hear shouting from the figures, but that itch is _bothering_ him again. He just _can’t reach it_. He jerks his hand, trying to get it to _move_ , but that only hurts him. He whimpers, then his stomach is heaving again and there’s more of a mess on the floor.

The sound of a scuffle draws his attention back to the others (Oh yeah, others were in here.) and he spots one of the red guys on the ground, the other two fighting the green one. Lines of light (lightning?) come from the green one’s hands and the other red ones fall to the floor too. He gasps as his stomach hurts again, making him once again curl up to try and alleviate it.

“...Twi?”

The voice is shaky, but it’s familiar and helps cut through the fog. A hand gently cups his cheek and he leans into it, closing his eyes and enjoying it for a moment. It feels safe. The hand carefully pulls his head up, another hand pushing his hair out of the way and feeling his forehead.

He sluggishly opens his eyes, making out what seems to be a familiar face. The eye shape, the hair… Is that--?

“What did they do to you?” the figure asks. That’s definitely Hyrule. He groans and tries to answer, stops to lick his lips, then finally gets out, “Demon… flower…”

“Demon flower?” Hyrule asks, and Twilight thinks he can make out a frown. Maybe. Hyrule gently puts the rancher’s head down, going over to Twilight’s hands and _finally_ freeing them. Twilight has to take a second to make his way through another stomach pain, but then he’s immediately scratching at his arms and sighing in relief.

“Twi?”

He looks over. Hyrule’s going towards the door. Is he leaving him? Twilight whines and stumbles to his feet, trying to follow, but he loses his footing and-- lands right in Hyrule’s arms. The traveler grunts, hauling him upright. Twilight’s stomach suddenly rolls again and he barely has time to try to turn his head away before more bile comes up.

Hyrule makes soothing sounds, rubbing his back to try and comfort him.

“I’ll be back Twi,” he says softly but urgently, “I need to free the others.”

Twilight hums in acknowledgement. He doesn’t want his brother to go. But the rest of their family need help too. Hyrule helps slowly lower him to the ground, where he leans against the chair. Then Hyrule is off. Twilight tries to watch him, though more stomach pain quickly distracts him and he groans as he hunches over. With his arms now free, he can finally wrap them over his belly and he does just that, praying to the goddesses that this all goes away soon.

Cracking his eye open, he finds the blurry green form of Hyrule crouched down by the red forms of the Yiga. He moves around a bit, then grabs something triumphantly and stands back up. He pauses there, then looks back at Twilight. Twilight gives him a shaky smile. He’ll be alright until the traveler gets back. Then he’s promptly throwing up again.

He takes a shaky, shallow breath after he’s done, then glances back up. Hyrule is gone. He sighs and closes his eyes again, trying to steady his breathing. It works, for a few seconds. Then his arms itch again, more intensely than before, and he’s furiously scratching at them.

The weight on his chest seems to get heavier and Twilight tries to take in deep breaths, but he just _can’t_. He almost feels like crying with how desperate he is to get more air than he currently can. His stomach makes him curl up in pain again, but he’s quickly distracted by his itchy arms. They almost feel like they’re burning and he _has_ to relieve it.

He’s leaning against the chair, frantically scratching his arms, when he hears footsteps again. A lot more this time. And there are more than a few gasps. He blearily looks at the door. A big group of figures stands there, but a blue blur breaks off from them and is getting bigger--?

“Twi!” the figure yells, throwing its arms around him and squeezing tight. He wheezes at the pressure and the figure immediately backs off, but he weakly grabs for it, shakily whispering, “Cub?!”

“We’re here Twi,” he whispers back, taking a shaky hand in his own and gently squeezing it. The rancher can hear the others talking now, see them coming closer over his Cub’s shoulder. Their tones sound concerned. Oh yeah, they were still in a Yiga base, weren’t they? His stomach rolls and spikes in pain and he has to let go of Wild’s hand, clutching at his stomach and moaning.

“Twi?!” the Cub panics, but then Twilight’s vomiting again and the Champion is backing out of range. The rancher feels a hand on his back as he finishes and looks over to find… he thinks that’s Time. One eye is shut, so probably. He seems to be… grimacing?

“What happened Pup?” he asks. (Yep, it’s Time.)

“Poison,” he chokes out. He hears a sharp intake of breath from Time.

“He said something about a demon flower?” he hears Hyrule say to his left. (He hadn’t realized how close everyone had gotten. Hadn’t they still been at the door?) He hears Wild gasp.

“You know what that is?” Hyrule asks. Twilight thinks he can see Wild nod before he answers, “Even just touching a demonflower can make you sick. Twi--”

Hm? He’s being brought into this?

“--how did they give you the poison?”

“Mm,” he muses, clutching his stomach. Has his head always been pounding like this?

“Twi.”

He’s brought back to the current situation by gentle hands on his shoulders and a somewhat familiar face staring at him seriously. Hm? Oh, they wanted an answer, right? Then he can be helped. That was the deal.

“Accident. Mix up. ‘Nough to kill moblin.”

The hands pull back and there’s some yelling and arguing but that _itch_ is back and he _has_ to get rid of it this time. He scratches and scratches and scratches--.

“Hey Twi?”

Hm? He stops to look at his Cub, who’s come back (When had he moved?) and gently takes his itchy arms. He starts pulling off Twilight’s gloves as he asks, “Did they make you touch it?”

“Mm, no,” he mumbles, “swallowed.”

Wild freezes for a second, then finishes pulling off the gloves and rolls up Twilight’s sleeves. He freezes again and Twilight hears others gasp. What? He looks at his arms and-- oh. Even with his blurry vision he can tell that they’re a bright red and puffy. That’s probably not good. A green figure comes over (Oh, that’s Hyrule.) and puts their arms above his. A light comes from them and-- oh, oh, the burning itch is going away. Like a cool wave is washing over it. _Ooh_ that feels so much better. He sighs in relief as the light fades. So much better.

“That won’t stop it entirely, but it should help him feel better for now,” he vaguely hears Wild say. Ah. His head is pounding, he aches everywhere, he’s feeling tired-- but with that little bit of healing he feels so much better. Maybe he should just take a nap. Just a little one. Then his stomach stabs again and he’s left gasping and writhing once again.

A hand on his shoulder helps pull him out of it and he looks over. Blue around the neck and a shiny shoulder. Warriors? Something is said, but he doesn’t catch it, and then a bottle is put in his face.

 _No!_ He’s not going to take any more! No more devilflower!

“Twi! It’s a potion!” someone snaps, and suddenly he can see the red liquid sloshing around inside, almost spilling out thanks to his reluctance. _More soothing coolness._ He grabs almost frantically for the bottle, drinking it so quickly he almost chokes. Despite it’s terrible taste, he feels like it’s the best thing _ever_ right now.

Everything dulls and he breathes another sigh of relief. No pain. Just aches. Someone helps him go from leaning against the chair to laying down and he sighs in contentment. There’s more talking, but it’s muted and he can’t bring himself to care enough. So tired. And soothed. Maybe…

His stomach gurgles unhappily and he barely makes it onto his side in time to spew more stomach bile, some red from the potion mixed in. The conversation picks back up once he’s finished, and he makes out the tail end of something Wild is saying, “--tions can only hold it off. We need the antidote.”

Oh. That word. He remembers that one. He was supposed to get that if he was good. And answered questions. He did that. Could he get it now? That was supposed to make him feel better. Right?

The weight is back to being persistent. It doesn’t want him to breathe properly. And the horrible pain in his stomach is starting to come back. With a vengeance. He moans and squirms, hoping the movement will help. It does not.

“--ake --ote?”

“Nee--gredi--nd pl--.”

“Whe--?”

He could make out bits and pieces of what the others were saying. The word he heard the most was that cure word. The one that would help him. They wanted one? But the Yiga have one. ...Oh, they don’t know. He’ll tell them then.

“They… have…”

Everyone pauses and looks at him. Or, he thinks they do.

“Wha--?” someone starts to ask, but they’re drowned out by another lance of pain in his stomach. All he can do is sit there and pant as it slowly subsides. The pain overall is building up though, and he’s not sure how much longer he can endure this. Could someone just put him out of his misery?

“What?” someone asks. What? What do they mean-- oh. The cure. His help. His _salvation_. He needs to tell them.

“They… have…” he gasps out again. No one seems to get it though. They _have_ to understand.

“They… have…” he wheezes, the weight crushing down again and making him take more shallow breaths. Someone grabs his arm and keeps their fingers on his pulse point. What? He’s obviously alive. That was silly. Wait. Didn’t he have a goal? Oh, yes. Cure.

“They… have…” he tries again. The others have started talking again. Are they ignoring him? He just wants to feel normal again!

“They… have…” he says again, almost pleadingly. Just please, let them understand! Suddenly, small hands are clasping one of his larger hands. He looks over to see-- several colors, long hair and a headband. Four?

“Twi,” the small hero is looking at him very seriously (Oh, his eyes are such a pretty purple, with what looks like maybe amber? He should pay more attention to his eyes.) as he asks, “Are you saying that the Yiga have an antidote?”

Twilight stares at him. His sight gets even blurrier as his eyes water. _Four understood_. He nods weakly and the small hero immediately lets him go, going back to the others. He can hear their conversation pick up again.

The rancher sighs in relief, unable to stop his eyes from leaking. They understood. They’d get it. All this would go away. No more pain. _No more pain_. He can’t wait. The weight pushes harder and his stomach lances with pain and he lets himself succumb to the encroaching darkness.

* * *

There’s a dull ache. Everywhere. But it’s so much better than before. Almost unnoticeable now. (...What had been before? He can hardly remember anything. All there is is pain.) No. He doesn’t want to remember how bad it was. He can just ask the others what happened. The others.

He goes to move, but all he does is shift a bit. Oh, that was much harder than he thought it would be. And more painful. He groans.

“Twi?”

That was Wild.

“...Cub?” he croaks. There’s a rustling of movement, then a sudden weight on him, hugging him tight. It hurt, but he wasn’t about to complain. He tries to return the hug, but is barely able to move without aching something awful.

Wild pulls back and, seemingly noticing Twilight’s plight, says, “Don’t move Twi. You’ve only just recovered.”

Twilight licks his dry lips and rasps, “What happened?”

He can hear Wild sigh before answering, “You were poisoned by demonflower poison. It… wasn’t pretty. We were able to get you the antidote though. But… you were in pretty bad shape. I don’t know… I don’t know how much… how much time we had left before… before you…”

He can hear his Cub’s voice cracking and desperately wishes he could hug him. Instead, he shoots a soft smile Wild’s way and soothes, “But that didn’t happen. I’m still here. Thanks to you guys.”

And Wild’s hugging him again, burying his face in Twilight’s shirt and sobbing. The rancher rests his chin on the Champion’s head and hums softly. They’ll be alright now.

Once the Cub subsides into sniffles, and hears someone else walking over and saying, “Hey Twi.”

Oh. Hyrule.

“Hey Hyrule.”

“Why haven’t you opened your eyes yet?”

He chuckles and answers honestly, “I don’t quite feel like getting up yet.”

The two laugh at him and he laughs with them, though then that sends him into a coughing fit. This stops their laughter (No! They seemed like they’d needed that.) and Wild moves around, saying, “I’ll get you some water and lunch!”

Then he’s off. Twilight hears Hyrule sit next to him and asks him, “Where is everyone?”

“They went off to gather things, see if they could even find a merchant and buy stuff from them.”

“How long was I out?”

“...About a day. But, well… You did wake up once between now and then. But… well, you were in a lot of pain still. We decided it was best to keep you out until you were better.”

He remembered it was bad. So bad he shudders at just the thought, and he doesn’t even remember a lot of it. He doesn’t want to remember it.

“Thank you.”

“...Yeah.”

Twilight sighs. He supposes it’s probably time for him to try truly waking up and facing the world. He may not be completely over it, but things can only go up from here. He finally opens his eyes.

And sees only darkness. ...Wild did say _lunch_ , right? He blinks again, trying to clear his vision. ...But it’s still the same. Just… black. He listens. ...There’s the chirping of birds. And the crackle of a fire. He turns his head that way, but it’s all still the same. He gulps.

Uh… He closes his eyes again. He can even feel the sunlight on his face. His eyes fly open. Still just pitch black. He searches for something, _anything_ in it. But there’s nothing. And deep down, Twilight knows he won’t find anything.

He hears footsteps approaching, but it’s not Wild’s voice that asks the question.

“Is something wrong?” Hyrule asks, sounding concerned. Twilight can feel their eyes on him. And in his panic, all he can say is, “I can’t see.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> is demonflower a creative name? no, but I wanted something simple instead, so. also, I imagine that it's a cousin of foxglove, for anyone wondering where I got the symptoms from. (not sure I was entirely accurate though and I took some liberties, so that's another reason it's just a cousin. that way it doesn't need to be exactly accurate. :P)
> 
> does Twi get his sight back? who knows? I certainly don't. you guys are free to imagine what you want. maybe it goes away on its own, maybe they find a cure, maybe he's like this forever. up to whatever you guys want, really.
> 
> also, I'm thinking I'll probably make at least two more chapters for this, cause I like to explore things. idk if they'll be as long as this one though.
> 
> oh, almost forgot, this is also for the prompt on the LU discord this week. there was a list of words to use and I combined all these from it to make this: poisoning, truth serum, imprisonment, “take me instead”, “I can’t see”


End file.
